Whenever an organization holds a convention, planning for the next such gathering is generally a dominant topic.

View full sizeChris Granger, The Times-PicayuneChuck Hankins is president of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Korean War Veterans Alliance.

Not so with a group of Korean War veterans whose four-day annual meeting in New Orleans ended Wednesday. During the gathering of 79 men in their 70s and 80s, the delegates voted overwhelmingly to disband on July 31.

These men are old — the members’ average age is 83 — and most are beset by their own health problems or those of family members, said Chuck Hankins of Harrisburg, Ill., president of the 2nd Infantry Division of the Korean War Veterans Alliance.

As a result, he said, “it’s becoming difficult, if not impossible, to predict how many people we can have at an annual meeting,” he said. “We’d rather phase out as a going operation in good shape rather than fall apart.”

At the business meeting Tuesday, where the crucial vote was taken, only four members voted to keep the 20-year-old organization alive, said Hankins, 79, who is wrapping up a two-year term.

“Everybody wanted to continue the organization,” he said, “but nobody was available or felt like they were available. The bucket ran dry.”

The three-month transition period will give the organization time to transfer its extensive records, which fill eight file cabinets, to the Korean War Project, a private research initiative in Dallas.

At its peak, the 2nd Infantry group had about 3,000 members, said Ralph Hockley of Houston, a former president. That number has dropped to 2,100, he said. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs said nearly 400 veterans of the Korean conflict are dying every day.

These veterans met at the InterContinental New Orleans. In the group’s hospitality room, where members snacked, chatted with friends and looked at yellowing clippings and snapshots, the prevailing mood was one of acceptance of the inevitable.

View full sizeChris Granger, The Times-PicayuneMemorabilia from the Korean War was on display at the InterContinental Hotel in New Orleans on Wednesday.

“There’s nobody that will step forward,” said Don Cohen, 78, of Vancouver, Wash. “It takes a lot of time, and we don’t have it.”

While Bill Hogge, 78, of Houston said he enjoys these meetings, “there’s a lot who were at the last meeting, in San Antonio, who are not here (because of) sickness or death.”

This slow attrition is common among veterans organizations, said David Evans, deputy director of the Defense Department’s Office of Public Liaison, who works with these groups.

“This organization is one of many,” he said. “As time goes on, more and more of these veterans are just fading away. …

“Big organizations don’t always reach out and embrace their members like they maybe ought to, but I think in recent years, the Department of Defense has realized that these gentlemen have gotten older. Our opportunity is slipping way. If we don’t do it soon, we’re never going to get a chance.”

Evans attended the meeting with Col. David Clark, executive director of the Defense Department’s committee to commemorate the Korean War’s 60th anniversary.

View full sizeChris Granger, The Times-PicayuneVeteran Bill Hogge of Houston sits in a convention ballroom during during a Korean War Veterans Alliance meeting at the InterContinental Hotel in New Orleans on Wednesday.

The conflict lasted from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953, when a cease-fire took effect. The American death toll, according to the Defense Department, was 54,246.

One of Clark’s chief duties, he said, is “to educate the American public on the significance of the war and why it’s important.”

His work is cut out for him, Hockley said, because the conflict, which represented a stand against communism early in the Cold War, has largely faded from the collective memory.

The war paled in significance with World War II, and it never become the focus of a wrenching national debate, like Vietnam. As a result, “it has, unjustly, fallen between the cracks,” Clark said.

“I think it was a harder case to make that it was in the national interest,” said David Moore, chairman of Loyola University’s history department. “The objective never was really clear.”

Too, there were no iconic heroes like Alvin C. York in World War I and Audie Murphy in World War II to seize the nation’s attention.

“There were a lot of them” in the Korean conflict, Hockley said in rebuttal, “but they were never recognized.”

Honoring the veterans’ commitment was one reason Evans and Clark came to the New Orleans meeting.

“It’s a very small gesture, but it’s the least we can do,” Clark said. “It’s particularly poignant because it’s their last meeting. It’s a kind of last thank-you from the Defense Department.”